The Coast Guard blocks Cuban migrants heading to the US and sends them back home

The U.S. Coast Guard intercepted nearly two dozen Cuban migrants trying to reach U.S. coasts on rickety boats in four separate operations — and sent them back home, authorities said.

The seafaring migrants were apprehended as part of Operation Vigilant Security, a stepped-up effort by Homeland Security to prevent asylum seekers from entering the country illegally, the Coast Guard said in a news release this week.

“There are consequences for attempting to unlawfully enter the U.S.,” Coast Guard District Seven Lieutenant Commander John Beal said in a statement Monday.

“Those who attempt to circumvent the safe, orderly, and legal immigration pathways may be disqualified from future opportunities to enter the United States and may be further deemed ineligible for asylum, subject to a five-year suspension on future admission and may face criminal charges. prosecution,” Beal said. “Don’t go to the sea.”

All seized migrants were repatriated to Cuba on Monday, officials said.

The first group of three Cuban nationals were rescued in the Gulf of Mexico by a merchant ship, which notified authorities and handed them over to the Cutter Oak Coast Guard crew.

A second boat with a single migrant on board was spotted about twelve miles off the coast of Boot Key by a Good Samaritan and was also picked up by the same cutter.

In the third case, a Coast Guard aircraft observed six Cubans “waving their arms in distress” about 25 miles outside Jensen Beach, Florida, and sent the Cutter William Sparling to intercept them.

The tired migrants told authorities they had been at sea for six days and had run out of fuel.

The latest incident occurred when a group of ten migrants were rescued from the waters just four miles south of Marathon, Florida, and were also picked up by Coast Guard Cutter Oak.

The Coast Guard warns that crossing the high seas around the US carries great risk.

In addition to Cubans fleeing the restrictive island nation, the Coast Guard routinely intercepts migrants trying to reach the U.S. from other countries — including more than 300 from Haiti and the Bahamas who were repatriated home earlier this month.

In April, three suspected gangbangers wanted for a fatal shooting in Puerto Rico in 2020 were plucked from a ship bound for the US. – and handed over to the authorities in the Dominican Republic.